Nambian government rejects Starlink
The Nambian government today announced it has rejected SpaceX’s application to provide Starlink to that country, apparently because the company will not comply with its laws that require ownership by Nambia citizens.
As a result, the regulator upheld its earlier ruling, stating that Starlink’s application remained non-compliant with the ownership and control requirements contained in Section 46 of the Communications Act, No. 8 of 2009. CRAN acknowledged that Low Earth Orbit satellite technology has the potential to improve connectivity across Namibia but stressed that all telecommunications operators must comply with the country’s legal and regulatory framework.
The authority also clarified that exemptions from the ownership requirements under Section 46(2) of the Communications Act can only be granted by the Minister of Information and Communication Technology and cannot be determined by CRAN through a reconsideration process.
In Africa such ownership laws almost always include a racial quota, requiring a certain percentage of ownership go specifically to blacks. SpaceX across the board refuses to do this.
The government apparently got 624 comments from the public asking it approve SpaceX’s application, but the regulators threw out all but 2 of those comments for what appears to be minor language or procedural issues.
My guess is that SpaceX refused to bribe these petty dictators, and so they denied the application.
Nambia, like South Africa, is making a foolish decision here, and as a result it is making itself a backwater, likely to trail the world in economic growth and prosperity for decades to come.
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No, not a backwater. They are emulating Blue First World Cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. And, just as in those places, the actual welfare of the population is the last thing on the minds of the local elites. The tragedy is that their residents haven’t yet figured this out and taken the appropriate steps to better themselves. There are Blue districts everywhere around the globe, and their number is expanding, not contracting.
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